Marcelo states that Moedas is one of the “most sophisticated politicians on the national stage.”

The President of the Republic said this Thursday that the Social Democratic mayor who heads the Chamber of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, is “one of the most sophisticated politicians on the national stage” and said that he hopes to “live long enough” to see his future. .

The head of state spoke at the presentation ceremony of Carlos Moedas’ book “Leading with People” at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.

Marcelo argued that the country had “two completely different traditions: a tradition of connection with roots and a very strong tradition of foreigners”, believing that “both were important for the breakthrough in the history of Portugal.”

“I believe that a very specific characteristic of the engineer Carlos Moedas is that he combines two traditions. He started by connecting with his roots, then became a foreigner and returned to his roots. And he combines two realities, which is very rare in Portuguese politics,” the President of the Republic said about the former European Commissioner.

Marcelo continued by stating that Carlos Moedas represents “a very rare synthesis of these two lines in the current political scene” and concluded: “This makes him one of the most sophisticated politicians on the national stage.”

The head of state praised the “speed” with which Moedas “got to know or explore Lisbon,” while not forgetting “the world and Europe.”

“Will this work across all of your current and future business plans? I hope to live long enough to see this mastery of the merging of two lineages unfold,” he admitted.

In a room full of national right-wing figures, former President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva, former PSD President Manuela Ferreira Leite, former Prime Minister and founder of the Social Democrats Francisco Pinto Balsemana and several current ministers. minority government of the PSD/CDU-PP, Marcelo recalled that a few days ago he was in the same hall at the presentation of the book of memoirs of the historical socialist Manuel Alegre.

“I was here at the presentation of Manuel Alegre’s book and I thought that today is April 25, this is freedom and democracy, because at that time the hall was full, full, full of the left, and now it is full, full, full of the right,” he noted to the applause of those present.

Marcelo believed that two different books were at stake.

“Manuel Alegre’s book was a book of memories for life. He still has something to live for, but this is already a very long life. And it was about ending his career,” he emphasized.

In the case of Carlos Moedas’ book, Marcelo stated that “it is definitely not a career highlight.”

“And I, at the time when I was with Manuel Alegre, had an exact idea of ​​what the future goal was – and God grant that it was distant – for the poet who is the firmament. For engineer Carlos Moedas, the sky is still a long way off. far away, but it is a goal relatively close, albeit distant, and this is evident in the choice of Emmanuel Macron’s preface. [presidente francês]”, he emphasized.

Marcelo noted that the mayor of Lisbon “did not choose any great French mayor, nor any figure of urbanism or other more or less complex, even cosmopolitan realities” as the preface to his book, “it was neither more nor less to choose Head of European State.”

“So, we know: where the firmament is for the poet, and Emmanuel Macron for the engineer Carlos Moedas,” he suggested.

A few minutes earlier, during the presentation of the book, the president of the Metropolitan Municipality, Carlos Moedas, was interviewed by journalist and commentator Sebastián Bugallo.

When asked if he argued that the way to prevent political extremes is to integrate them into institutions, Moedas rejected this hypothesis.

“I think historically it has never worked very well. When we consider extremes, extremes eat us up,” he defended.

Moedas said he is afraid of “the extreme left and the extreme right” and believes that “today the most difficult thing is to be a moderate politician.”

Regarding the reign of Pedro Passos Coelho, especially during the Troika period when he assumed the duties of Undersecretary of State under the then Prime Minister, Moedas emphasized that “it was a very, very difficult moment.”

According to Carlos Moedas, “at that time there could not have been another government doing this and having such capabilities as Passos Coelho.”